Staff studying part-time whilst holding down a job are being looked upon favourably, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills declares.

‘Part-time study brings enormous benefits for individuals, the economy and employers,’ universities and science minister David Willetts says.

The comment comes on the back of findings which reveals a trend in part-time student workers having a positive impact on profitability.

The report, published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), says that there is an important role for part-time students in stimulating the economy.

Furthermore, seven in ten employers in the sample thought that the skills gained from combining part-time study with employment were superior to those acquired by graduates from full-time university courses.

‘Instituions must play their part to encourage more part-time study by highlighting the benefits to prospective students,’ Willetts adds.

‘I am calling on all universities to ensure that part-time options are highly visible on websites and marketing materials and that information on student finance is up to date.’

Employers in the UK, the report reads, find that staff studying for part-time degrees are more pro-active and willing to take on ‘demanding responsibilities’.

The government cites tuition fee loans, which are available to part-time students, as a development which is stimulating more study by staff. On top of the finance programme, the coalition is also looking to eradicate rules which prevent individuals from obtaining financial support to retrain in the engineering, technology and computer science sectors.

A large majority of the employers surveyed in the study see part-time higher education study as increasing the confidence of employees and equipping them to become more proactive, better prepared for their next roles within organisations and more likely to stay with their current firms or organisations.